U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,364 describes a multicontact electrical connector having an insulating housing which has one part that is movable in a direction perpendicular to the housing axis. The terminal receiving cavities extend through the movable part so that the terminal can be inserted into the cavities when the movable is in one position. After insertion, the movable part is moved to a second position which forms a shoulder in each cavity so that the terminals cannot be removed.
This type of retention system for retaining terminals in the cavities in an electrical connector is extremely reliable for the reason that it does not depend upon retention lances or the like on the terminals which lances might be damaged prior to insertion of the terminals into the cavities. Furthermore, it is not possible with retention systems of this type to insert the terminals into the cavities unless the movable part is in its proper position for terminal insertion and it is impossible to move the movable part to the position in which it retains the terminals in the cavities unless the terminals are all fully inserted into the cavities. The movable part thus ensures that the terminals have been properly assembled and that the connector will not have partially inserted terminals when it is put to use.
The connector assembly shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,364 is a relatively complex type of connector assembly composed of a metal outer shell, several inserts contained in the shell in addition to the movable insert part, and finally a separate ring on the connector shell for moving the movable part to retain the terminals. The present invention is directed to the achievement of a relatively simplified connector having a movable part for contact retaining purposes which can be produced by plastic molding processes and which can be assembled by a simple assembly operation.